Military veterans, faith-based community urge
grassroots activism to help end Iraq war

A group of leaders in the antiwar movement say that grassroots activism is more important than ever in finding a way to end U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq.

“Our challenge as a faith-based community is how we can challenge ourselves to mobilize, to organize to bring this war to an end,” said Tom Andrews, national director of the UUSC colleague Win Without War coalition and a former congressman from Maine.

He said that although President Bush and his administration have assumed constitutionally questionable powers under the pretext of his role as commander in chief, his powers are not without limit. “If Congress were to say no (to further funding), he would be powerless to continue the war,” said Andrews.

Andrews, a member of UUSC’s Board of Trustees, was a featured speaker September 25, at a special roundtable discussion, “The War in Iraq: How We Can Change Public Opinion, Public Policy and End the War.” Other speakers included the Rev. William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and retired Air Force Col. Richard Klass, a Vietnam War veteran and former White House Fellow. The forum was organized by Wayne Smith, manager of UUSC’s Civil Liberties Program.

UUSC, a member of the Win Without War coalition, opposed the preemptive war prior to the U.S. invasion, and now is working actively to end the war and bring American troops home as expeditiously as possible

Moral high ground

“The role of the religious community is to find a moral high ground” in the debate over how to end the war, said Sinkford. “There’s a huge spiritual cost of this war. I think the soul of our nation is at risk. If we take our UU principles seriously, we have to ask serious questions about our national policy.”

Sinkford, along with Rev. John H. Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ, is leading an effort to forcefully project the moral voice of the progressive religious community onto this debate. On October 10, Sinkford and Thomas will be delivering to Capitol Hill tens of thousands of petitions signed by members of their respective denominations demanding an end to the war.

The roundtable at UUSC was part of a nationwide initiative of the Win Without War coalition and retired U.S. generals to change the positions of members of Congress who have been supporting the Bush administration. Others taking part in the roundtable included other military veterans, antiwar activists, and Unitarian Universalist ministers.

Andrews said the initiative already is changing public opinion and public policy, citing recent successes in states such as Maine and Washington. As a result of town meetings and meetings with editorial boards conducted by the coalition, newspapers and members of Congress that previously had supported the war effort have reversed their positions.

Klass said administration warnings about the destabilizing impact of a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops are unfounded. He said that from a logistical standpoint, it would take 18 months to two years to withdraw all U.S. troops. He added that one of the major problems of U.S. withdrawal is “what happens to the four million Iraqi refugees” who have been displaced as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation.

“We got into the war on the basis of a deception and we remain there on the basis of systematic manipulation and deception,” said Andrews. “Virtually everyone agrees there is no military solution. What we need is a political accommodation and reconciliation.”

In contrast to the military “surge” ordered early this year by Bush, said Andrews, what is needed now is a “robust surge” in economic aid that will help rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure that has been devastated by the U.S. invasion and occupation.

Andrews noted the escalating anti-American sentiment that is widespread in Iraq and other areas of the Middle East. “We (the United States) cannot create stability in a country in which 90 percent of the people want you out and most of them want you dead,” he said.

Related resources

To read UUSC’s recent statement on ending the war in Iraq, click here.

To view streaming video excerpts of the roundtable discussion, click here.

To sign the UUA’s petition calling for an end to the war in Iraq, click here.

To read UUA President Sinkford’s recent letter to Congress urging our nation’s policymakers to find the moral courage “to end this hopeless war,” click here.

Updated September 28, 2007